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Zachary Colson
|last= |race=Human }} Major Zach Colson is a Terran Confederation pilot. He is also a jazz musician, and taught himself piano.Super Wing Commander Colson had joined the Society of the Mandarins, a rogue group of humans that working for the Kilrathi. He then began a campaign of betrayal and murder. Colson would sabotage ships, commit several murders, transmit classified information to the Kilrathi, and planted explosives on the Concordia's flight deck. Biography Colson graduated top of his class. Originally he served on the . Claw Marks= On the Austin he implemented a visualography machine with holographic goggles to test and improve combat reflex skills. Serving as a Terran Confederation pilot he managed 28 Kilrathi kills, 3 during the Vega Campaign. |-| Freedom Flight= By that time he was a young and unexperienced pilot when; he had iced only a Salthi and a Dralthi. His brother was a Confed Marine on Goddard Colony. All were killed because reinforcements arrived late. Colson believed that the Goddard colony and his brother would have been saved if the Claw hadn't detoured to attack a Kilrathi troopship. He had sworn to kill everyone who served on the Claw. Sobsequently he joined the Society of the Mandarins. Jazz was in the Austin with the in the Firekka system for the Firekkans's entry to the Confederation. Secret Missions 2= When the Austin and the Claw retreated from Firekka to Corsair, Lieutenant Colson and Etienne Montclaire were transferred to the Claw on 2654.110 for 2 weeks, to meet with Tactical Plotting group and discuss air defense procedures.SWC marks, pg 3 While there he met Iceman and discussed the earlier Operation: Thor's Hammer, although he hid his dismay about his brother. In order to learn more about the Kilrathi invasion to Firekka, Prankster and Jazz flew a pair of modified Dralthi Mk. II that were supplied by Ralgha nar Hhallas as Beta Wing in a recon mission. Keeping radio silence, they reached a convoy of 2 with an escort of Jalthis and Krants. Targeting one of the capital ships, their computers requested information from them. Having learned from Ralgha that the Kilrathi plan to invade Firekka, the Confed decided for a Confederation Marines invasion to assist the Firekkans. Prankster and Jazz once more flew Dralthis as Mu Wing and briefly returned to Firekka to intercept military communications and calculate the safest place and time for the marines to land. Keeping radio silence, they passed through the area and also met Kilrathi-piloted F-44 Rapier IIs that had been captured from the former . |-| Freedom Flight= He was termporarily reassigned to the Claw. When suspicious presence was detected in the system. Peter Halcyon decided to pair experienced with fresh pilots in the patrol and Jazz was assigned with Hunter, who soon recognized his flying talents. Soon after, Halcyon redirected Hunter to Nav 3 to support Spirit and Puma, and despite Jazz's protests who wanted to follow, Hunter ordered him back to the Claw. Much later, the Austin came under a sudden attack by a wing of Grathas. At those last moments only one Rapier could be launched, piloted by Jazz. In the meantime, a mysterious Dralthi Mk. II attacked them; Jazz was fighting with one of the remaining Gratha, which banked close to the cruiser in an attempt to escape him until it exploded against its side. Jazz turned tightly and 'burned directly at the Dralthi and launched a missile, destroying the last Gratha that was hunting it. He performed a close maneuver and he saw that the pilot in the Dralthi was Hunter. Hunter docked into the Austin and to celebrate their saving of the ship, they drank some beers with his friends before he returned to the Claw. The Confed ships eventually had to retreat back to Confed space. In that time Jazz was again on board the Claw. In a poker session with other officers, he saw Blair showing a hand of 2 Kings and 3 Queens Jazz grimaced and bowed out of the game. By the next decade, Jazz was assigned to the with other veterans from the Claw, such as Angel, Spirit and Doomsday. He was considered the best pilot of the ship. The Claw eventualy was destroyed and Carl T. LaFong was held responsible. Vengeance of the Kilrathi He was not at all friendly with LaFong when he visited the ship, being one of those who believed him responsible for the destruction of the Claw; Angel attributed this behaviour to jealousy as LaFong had always been a better pilot. Later he played (and won) a hand of Five-card draw with Maverick, Spirit, Stingray and Hobbes. The first major incident Jazz caused on the Concordia was the murder of Comms Specialist McGuffin. Jazz volunteered to watch the comms room while McGuffin took a short break, giving Jazz the chance to contact Kilrathi agent Krihakh with the location of the Concordia. When McGuffin caught him in the act, Jazz shot him down, putting Dirk Wright's pilot's wings in his hand to make him the main suspect. He and Spirit related McGuffin's death to LaFong , Jazz also suggesting that it was LaFong 's arrival that triggered the latest strange things. Because of the constant bickering with others, Angel assigned Jazz and Stingray to escort one of the daily garbage shuttle to the asteroids. When Spirit was taken off the light roster, Jazz discussed this event with Stingray and Doomsday in the O-deck. Jazz pretended to hope that Spirit was not a Mandarin, but Tolwyn had his reasons to ground her. While Maverick and Spirit were investigating an unknown area of the Heaven's Gate system, Jazz showed up in an F-54C Epee although it was not his patrol assignment, and helped the two pilots against soe Jalkehis. He would claim that earlier he killed a Kilrathi carrier with its Sartha escort. The next day he played cards with Maverick, Downtown and Stingray. Downtown expressed his concerns about how difficult it would be to retake the starbase and Jazz jokingly compared him to Doomsday and suggested to tattoo his face on the next shore leave. He anonymously blackmailed Mariko Tanaka with her long-lost fiancee's life, Philip, if she refused to betray the Terran Confederation. When she refused, Jazz planted explosives on her starfighter. Her gunner Meron died and she committed suicide by ramming her craft into the Heaven's Gate starbase. During the attack against the Heaven's Gate starbase, Stingray, Jazz and Doomsday led wings against the Kilrathi strike fleet approaching the Concordia. In Tesla Jazz shared his thoughts that the system was teeming with Kilrathi and Downtown also shared his worries about the two carriers that approached. Maverick commented that he had seen worse, like in Firekka system, which made Jazz comment on the destruction of the Claw once more. Shortly before the retreat from Tesla, Jazz was with Stingray and Hobbes discussing Downtown's death and mentioned his brother. In the Enigma system he was told by his friend Cole that entrance to the commo room was denied. He shared this to Hobbes, Maverick and Stingray who was puzzled about what might be going on. Jazz explained that they are in a very serious position and they can't afford any mistakes. When they reached K'Tithrak Mang he derided LaFong once more for mentioning the stealth fighters, and pretended to hope that Geoffrey Tolwyn will find the traitor onboard the ship soon. Colson was assigned with LaFong. They flew a F-57A Sabre . Later in the O-Deck he made some smart-ass remarks concerning LaFong's relationship with Angel. He explained he tries to makes the best out of a bad situation, like that one, believing it will be a matter of time before being found and the big fight. During the later patrol, the pair encountered wings of stealth fighters, the third time for LaFong, but this time his flight disk proved they were real. After talking to Tolwyn, Angel debriefed Jazz who displayed confidential knowledge about the upcoming arrival of the , which persuaded Angel about his betrayal. He threatened her with a blaster and in an attempt to escape, he stole a Sabre and flew from the Concordia, only to be intercepted by LaFong who was flying a patrol. LaFong blew up his ship and Jazz begged for his life, promising to provide the flight disks he stole proving LaFong's innocence, and to provide intelligence about the Mandarins. LaFong was still considering to shoot him dead, but he was convinced by Angel that he deserves a trial. Afterwards, LaFong went to see Colson to ask his motivations. Colson believed that the Goddard colony and his brother would have been saved if the Claw hadn't detoured to attack a Kilrathi troopship. He had sworn to kill everyone who served on the Claw. Conviction and death Colson faces several Confederation officials at his military tribunal. Colson is convicted of murder and high treason and is sentenced to death by Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn. However, Colson is rescued by members from the Mandarins. He spent a few days in hiding on Ayer's Rock station in the Ayer's System, but fled in a Morningstar when the base was destroyed by LaFong. LaFong eventually tracked down Colson and was able to shoot him down, ending his life of treachery. Character Colson is a self-taught jazz pianist and elite pilot who balanced his creative and analytical minds. He thinks that his poise determines his survival, visualizing his attacks during action. He used to play piano in the Rec Room of the Austin several nights a week. Behind the scenes When Jazz dies in , this is spoken in his funeral: category:Humans category:Tiger's Claw personnel category:Concordia (CVS-65) personnel category:Terran Confederation pilots Category:Characters category:Concordia personnel Category:Tiger's Claw survivor Category:Austin personnel Category:Characters (SM1.5) Category:Characters (Freedom Flight)